TMI a little place to whine

which is worse

2012-01-08T14:37:00.000-05:00

Sunday is a nice day to rest, as God intended supposedly.

But with not much on commercial TV except politics, sports and infomercials I wonder which is worse?

getting old

2011-11-27T18:10:00.002-05:00

I made a comment on facebook because someone said she was on line on Black Friday because it was more convienent and she hated crowds. I got blasted for starting a debate when I said that cyber shopping was less safe and secure than the person thought.

This person and her friends who agreed with her is a young 30 something.

This is also the kind of young lady who bemoans the lack of storefronts in the neighborhood and the demise of a nice downtown shopping area. You know, the small town feel, the lack of small businesses.

These are the kinds of people who can't connect the dots. They don't see the cause and effect. They cyber shop but they don't see the fact that storefronts can't exist when they don't have walk in customers. No customers, no profit and eventually no store.

But shoping in brick and motar stores are less convienent.

And for saying so I get told not to make waves and start a debate.

They still don't connect the dots.

OWS

2011-11-15T12:46:00.002-05:00

People don't get it.

It's not about the money.

It's about LIES.

It's about intregity.

It's about trust.

We beleived that the banks were going under, through their own fault mind you, but still... it would impact us all negatively.

So we allowed the governement to bail them out.

The thought behind it was that if the government GAVE them money the banks would use it as they were supposed to - lending it to people who needed to borrow it to create jobs.

But that's not how it went.

The banks took the money - paid themselves - and sat on the rest because theyw ere afraid to take a risk.

So they got rich and we got nothing.

THAT is what OWS is about.

Lack of moral fiber and intregity.

Gingrich plays with himself

2011-11-13T13:41:00.002-05:00

Games that is. A shell game.

He has a way to make money from one of his endeavors, to pay another of his foundations, to donate to his campaign finances. Just within the law,all legal, but it's a shell game he collects money for one purpose and then he redirects it for another purpose altogether.

Rachael Maddow had it all mapped out on her show on Thursday or Friday. It shows how Gingrich manipulates donations moving them around so that what one thinks donations are being used for isn't where it ends up. Where does the money end up? In a war chest for Gingrich's potential run for office.

My personal opinion is that Gingrich is about equal to Herman Cain, only with more political experience and a larger ego despite the past political and personal experiences.

Neither of them convince em that they ae about what's doing right for this country. They are concerned about the "party" and their own glory.

Herman Cain is a fraud

2011-11-02T07:39:00.002-04:00

The media keeps saying that Mr. Cain is the former founder/CEO of Godfather Pizza.

That was true until he sold out 15 years ago. So now that "introduction" is a lie. It's fraud for him to represent himself in such a way, but then I guess he is used to that. Why?

Now he makes his money as a motivational speaker.

A MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER.

You know what that means, right? He gets an idea and shovels shit to you until you beleive it.

He has no plan, he has no solution. All he can do is spend 1 hour in front of an audience who paid money to hear him, and tell them what to do, or shall I say he tells them what he thinks they should do.

He, himself, does nothing to improve them.

In his folksey, down to earth way he doesn't do a blessed thing except sell himself and his tapes or DVD's.

Like other motivational speakers, he gives you nothing but advice.

Now he wants to be presient?

I ask you, do you really want 4 years of shit shoveled down your throat?

I mean what is his foreign policy platform? Aside from the catchy 9-9-9 phrase what does he understand about taxes and public works funding? Sure he ran a business, but a business is not government (trust me, I kow about this I live in FL where Rick Scott is dismantling government in favor of privitizing the state).

He talks a good game, but that's it. He has no real experience andhe has no real idea how government works.

I say Herman Cain is a fraud....only in the GOP presidential field because everyone else already messed up.

So my humble opinion is get him out of the field pronto, and put in someone who doesn't just talk about ideas, but actually has something to say.

Christian charity or Socialism?

2011-09-18T20:35:00.004-04:00

It amazes me that many Republicans call themselves Christian.

I am quoting from the Catholic Living Bible.

Have you read Romans 13:1
Obey the government, for God is the one who has put it there.

Then later Romans13:6-9
Pay your taxes too, for these same two reasons. For government workers need to be paid so they can keep on doing God's work, serving you. Pay everyone whatever he ought to have; pay your taxes and import duties gladly, obey those over you, and give honor and respect to all those to whom it is due. Pay all your debts except the debt of love for others - never finish paying that!

In case people think it's something I made up I looked to another version of the Bible, The New Testament of the HOly Bible confraternity version.

Romans 13:1-2
Obiedience . Let everyone be subject to the higher authorities, for there exists no authority except from God, and those who exist have been appointed by God.

Romans 13:6-9
For this is also why you pay tribute, for they are the ministers of God, serving unto this very end. Render to all men whatever is their due; tribute to whom tribute is due; taxes to whom taxes are due; fear to who fear is due;
Owe no man anything except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the Law. For "Thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not covet"; and this saying Love thy neighbor as thyself."

It goes on in verse 10
Love does no evil to a neighbor. Love therefore is the fulfillment of the Law.

Republicans never seem to mention this part of their Christiana faith. It's like Christianity only exists when they are in the church pew and the doors are shut to the outside world.

So, how can Republicans, especially Tea Partiers justify thier oposition to taxation?
How can these people call paying taxation a form of socialism? How can Tea Party members deny help to others? "Love does no evil to a nieghbor." How does that translate to mean stop helping people out of work? How does that translate to do not help those who need medical help?

Basically, I can't figure out how people who call themselves Christians can also call themselves Tea Party members. The two philosophies seem diametrically opposed.

Christian values

2011-09-13T14:32:00.002-04:00

I don't think bigots are Christians, even though they may claim to be. You can't believe in the teaching of Jesus Christ and hate.

You can't hate blacks, Jews, Muslims or anyone who disagrees with what you think.

No wonder a Budhist monk once said he has never met a Christian.

Who is a patriot?

2011-09-12T20:01:00.003-04:00

I was asked today if I was a patriot. What do I do besides fly the flag in front of my house to PROVE it.

So I began to wonder, who is a patriot?

Is a patriot a person who serves in the military - being paid to put their life on the line. Or is a patriot the person who volunteers at a VA hospital to help wounded Vets? How about the people who adopt active duty soldiers and send them care packages? Is it patriotic to send phone cards to the VA hospital so the wounded vets can call their families?

Is a patriot one who supports the USO and gives clothing donations to the Disabled Veterans Association? Or someone who gives a clothing donation once a year to Goodwill industries? Which of those is Patriotism and which is Christian Charity?

Is working as a fireman, being amply paid to risk you life for the good of the community, being patriotic? You put in you 20 years and collect a nice pension for your "patriotism"? Is it more patriotic than being a civilian worker for the Department of Defense or the IRS?

Does it mean you're a Patriot if you work as a Poll Watcher in an election? Is it Patriotic to vote in each and EVERY election, not just the big ones, but the primaries, the local elections the state elections and all referemdums? Is that being Patriotic or just a good citizen who cares about ensuring good government?

Is it Patriotic to have visited national monuments like Independence Hall, The Liberty Bell, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, and the site of the former Twin Towers in NY, The Arlington National Cemetary, Mt. Vernon, The Nations Capitol Building, The Alamo in San Antonio TX, New Orleans AFTER the tragedy of Katrina, the USS Yorktown in Charlestown SC, The USS Olympia in PA or the submarine Swoardfish.

Let me think, is it Patriotic to have visited a National Park? President Trueman's "little White House" in Key West, FL? How about a State Historic area? Everglades National Park?

Is it Patriotic to stop and read those historic roadside markers while on a trip? "The battle of Gettyesburg was fought here in...", "the Confederate soldiers camped in...", "Washington cross the Delaware at..." "Valley Forge Historic National...", "The Battle of Trenton..."

Is it not Patriotic to have visited the former Confederate Capitol house in Richmond VA, or is it more Patriotic to have visited the REAL historic and archelogical site of the Jamestown settlement in VA?

Is having attended an Air Show at a US Air Force Base more Patriotic than having attended one at a commercial airport where the Air Force, Navy and Marines displayed their planes and expert flying abilities?

Does having marched in parades with a bunch of Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts during Memorial Day make you patriotic? Does being on the Whispering Pines Civic Association 4th of July parade and picnic committee make you more patriotic than atttending the parade and making cupcakes for sale at the picnic? Is it still patriotic waving to those who made floats, decorated their bikes and marched?

Is it more patriotic to volunteer for a candidate in an election campaign or to gripe about the "idiot" in office who other people elected?

Just curious. What do you think a patriot is?

jobs

2011-09-04T08:48:00.002-04:00

OK, so people want jobs.

People want no taxes.

People want no government interference with business so that business can create jobs.

The government gave the private sector stimulus money.

It was supposed to stimulate job creation.

Has it?

It's not the government's fault that industry is too selfish and greedy to share the money it has. It's private sector industry that's stiffling the economic growth.

So why blame the government for corporate greed?

Hey Tea Party-ers

2011-08-08T18:08:00.003-04:00

I did it all myself.
Yes.
I never ever asked for a handout from the Federal Government.
We don't need big government for anything.

So, were you parents rich enough to send you to college or trade school or did you get a Federally subsidized Student loan? No, forgive me, you were home schooled and had to follow the regulations set down by some government agency along the line to make sure you were given proper training to read, write and possible to think for yourself. All those regulations were set down by the Department of Education, which I am sure you find totally intrusive and unecessary, because By God you don't want any government interference in how you raise your child.

Of course your kids are going to college, that in state tuition at good old State U. can't be beat, even if it is partially subsidized by the Federal and State government.

Do you have a bank account insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation? Maybe you have a IRA for retirement, or maybe you buy US Savings Bonds so your kids have something to go to pay for their college or trade school education.

Is your mortgage regulated by any one of several Federal agencies, or do you pay enormous interest rates to some private lender?

Did you or a family member work for a company that sub-contracted for the Federal Government? You know, like a chemical company, or a plant that made a part for airplanes or "ordinance?"

Do you use chemicals to grow your own food that the Dept. of Agriculture tested?

Do you get medicine that the CDC approves of to keep you free from illness? Or maybe you get the flu shot, or have you kids vaccinated under programs set up by the Federal, state and local governments to keep your kids healthy.

Do you use the roads built with the Federal taxes you paid? Or do you use the trains, the planes and the ships that the Federal government regulates? You know the NTSB.

How about the car you drive? Is it up to the Dept. of Transportation safety specs?
That TV you watch, does it do what it promised? YOu know what I mean, does it perform according the the regulations set down by the Dept. of Commerce?

Those commercials, are they acceptable for all audiences as the FCC regulations dictate?

Let me guess, you own a boat, right? So you can cruise the waterways on rivers and lakes or in the ocean patrolled by the United States Coast Guard.

Yep, I can see you don't need the government for anything. You are totally independent of government control.

Bravo!!!!!

You assholes!

We're (in) number 2

2011-08-08T16:13:00.002-04:00

The victory of WW2 was over 60+ years ago.

We are no longer a super power.

Yet the Republicans keep telling stupid voters we are.

Tea Party members tell us to cut more spending and then they make us a laughing stock of the world.

So now what?

DEPRESSION that's what.

Good bye.

more greed mor power grabs and less intelligence

2011-08-04T18:33:00.003-04:00

Why did Wall Street go down today?

GREED. And more GREED. They fear they will loose money so they take their money out of the market and cause a spiral, it's a self fulfilling prophesy.

It's not our government that determines what happens on Wall Street, it's the idiots in Wall Street (who want more moeny at the risk of the rest of us) who run the government.

Also the idiots in Congress who "saved" money by creating the FAA problem? What did they actually do with their machinations? They CAUSED a loss of tax revenue of more than $360 million!

Now everyone is upset.

Damn straight.

We can't get rid of the greedy on Wall Street, but we can vote the idiots ingovernment out of office - and I think we should do it to prove a point.

I'm greedy too.

I am greedy for fair treatment in economic decisions and intelligent decisions in government.

So let's get rid of those who aren't giving it to us, and vote in people who will.

the Fourteenth Amendment Section 4

2011-07-31T17:16:00.002-04:00

The budget drama in congress is a moot point.

Why?

Section 4:
The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.

Tea Party

2011-07-23T16:17:00.003-04:00

What do they hope to accomplish?

Seems to me they are ruining America with unrasonable expectations.
You can't get out of debt unless you pay your bills.
You can't pay your bills without income.

If you are a government your income is taxes.

TAXES.

Don't you get it?

We have to generate more income.

We need more from taxes.

And they say no tax increases? Why? Because all of the previous tax cuts have been so helpful so far?

They haven't.

Get a grip.

What are we raising in the USA?

2011-07-14T09:58:00.003-04:00

In the United States the politicians want us to beleive that tax breaks for the rich create jobs.

Yet since that yarn was spun during the Regan Administration there has been NO proof of that ever happening.

What keeps us in recession is the tax breaks for the rich and big corporations - because they want to retain their profit margin and their large bank accounts, so they keep what they have instead of investing it in America. The idea of giving them tax breaks is so that they will INVEST it in America, and they don't. They haven't for the past 20 plus years.

And what happens?

Republicans in every election since insist that the USA needs to maintain those tax breaks to stimulate the economy.

What stimulation? It's stagnation. It's GREED.

So why does the majority of America beleive this crap? Don't people look back and ask for an accounting of the programs? If they have worked in the past show us. Show us how many jobs were created, show us where the money went. THAT's what's missing in congressional legislation, accountability.

We should make every congressman ACCOUNTABLE for the promises they make and the laws they pass that keeps those promises.

We should make them all present a balance sheet of how much money was given to the rich and powerful and for what purpose and make the rich tell us how they used those tax breaks to "stimulate" the economy.

We should have congress specify that any money given as a stimulus CANNOT be used for bonuses, but must be reinvested in hardware and durable goods, and job creation or in the case of banks, circulated to free up credit for business expansion.

Why do we accept the rhetoric of failed policy and repeat it, again and again?

Are we all that stupid?

Pentacost Sunday

2011-06-12T14:22:00.002-04:00

"Come Holy Spirit fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love."

Nice Prayer, I think we should remember to say it more than once a liturgical year.

My favorite Dr. Who quote

2011-06-11T14:07:00.001-04:00

Someone says to the Doctor, "You're not makeing sense."

The Doctor replies, "I am making perfect sense, you're not keeping up."

Ponzi Scheme

2011-06-10T22:09:00.001-04:00

If you want congress to leave Social Security alone and want them to know it write a protest letter to:

Congressman Joe Heck (from Nevada)
132 Cannon House office Building
Washington DC 20515

Something to read

2011-06-09T20:49:00.003-04:00

All the President's Spin: George W. Bush, the Media and the Truth by Ben Fritz, Bryan Keefer and Brendan Nyhan.

Deconstructs the "truth" as spun by the Bush White House spin doctors, and gives the background and facts behind them. Reports on the reality, not the released to the press information.

taken from another's webpage

2011-06-05T12:12:00.001-04:00

HUMANISM IS AS AMERICAN AS APPLE PIE

by Nick Gier, Professor Emeritus, University of Idaho (ngier@uidaho.edu)

Religious Liberalism and the Founding Fathers

Humanism, one of the greatest achievements of western civilization, has become a dirty word. Humanism, one of the essential aspects of our American heritage, has become an un-American word. Something is terribly wrong when a good term like this is abused by people who ought to know better.

It used to be that all of America's ills were blamed on a "communist" conspiracy, but now this has been replaced by a "humanist" conspiracy. Humanists are being targeted as the source of every "evil," from homosexuality to one-world government. The fact that the American Communist Party had become fossilized and a laughingstock did not deter earlier conspiracy theorists. And now to propose that the 3000-member American Humanist Association has a stranglehold on our minds is an insult to all intelligent Americans.

Communism, by and large, deserves the bad press that it receives. One can understand how Communism has become a dirty word. Many lives and much freedom have been lost in the name of Communism, just as formerly many were lost in the name of Christianity. But as far as I know, no one has ever been killed in the name of humanism.

This attack is truly incredible if one considers that the humanism of Socrates has become the basis for our ethical individualism; the humanism of the Greek Sophists gave law its adversarial system and inspired Renaissance humanists to extend education to the masses as well as to the aristocracy; the Christian humanism of Aquinas and Erasmus helped temper negative views of human nature found in the biblical tradition; and the humanism of the Enlightenment gave us political rights, representative government, and free market economics. It has been said that "the pluralistic, democratic, secular, humanistic state...is one of the greatest political inventions of all time . . . "

Why has this innocent name been blackened? Why has the humanist become the new Satan and anti-Christ? The Religious Right must certainly take most of the blame, even, regrettably so, some of the best evangelical theologians. John Jefferson Davis, who otherwise makes some positive contributions to systematic theology, claims that an "ntirevelational" humanism is the cause of mental illness, international terrorism, and other evils.

Some of the blame also lies with narrow-minded humanists who have insisted that only their views are Atrue@ humanism. When some humanists say that only those who reject a belief in God and put their trust squarely in the scientific method are real humanists, they are distorting the meaning of humanism. When someone like B. F. Skinner, one of the signers of the Humanist Manifesto, claims that human beings have no freedom nor dignity, this is also a significant deviation from traditional humanism.

The late Jerry Falwell charges that humanism "challenges every principle on which America was founded. It advocates abortion-on-demand, recognition of homosexuals, free use of pornography, legalizing of prostitution and gambling, the free use of drugs... and the socialization of all humanity into a world commune." Needless to say, traditional humanism is not bound at all to any of these positions. Many of the humanists in the Libertarian Party would agree with most of this list, but as laissez-faire capitalists, they would definitely reject the world commune idea. There are also many Christian humanists who would disagree with most of these points. I shall also demonstrate that, contrary to Falwell's claims, America was founded on humanist principles.

The development of modern humanism went hand-in-hand with the rise of what I call Aclassical liberalism.@ Our word Aliberal@ comes from the Latin adjective liberalis, which means Apertaining to a free person.@ In feudal times a free person had to be born from noble stock, so that the liberi were then contrasted with the servi, the feudal serfs. Classical liberals challenged this distinction and declared that all human beings, whatever their social status, were from the same universal, noble stock.

Classical liberals viewed individuals as self-legislative beings, moral agents who, by the use of reason and experience, decided for themselves how their lives were to be fashioned and led. Classical liberals challenged the authority of governments and churches to interfere unnecessarily in individual lives. These first liberals were responsible for the basic freedoms that many people now enjoy--religious, intellectual, economic, and political.

Our Founding Fathers were definitely part of this liberal, humanist tradition. Norman Cousins even suggests that Enlightenment philosophers like John Locke and David Hume were the "invisible Founding Fathers." All of them retained a belief in God, but Jefferson, Adams, Washington, Paine, and Franklin rejected major Christian doctrines, including original sin, the deity of Christ, the Trinity, etc.

The famous Jefferson-Adams correspondence is filled with references to their common reading in the Greeks and the humanistic philosophers of the Enlightenment. It is also replete with criticisms of orthodox Christianity, especially Calvinism. In one letter Jefferson said that "it would be more pardonable to believe in no God at all, than to blaspheme Him by the atrocious attributes of Calvin."

Other early Americans like John Jay, Patrick Henry, and Samuel Adams had much more conservative views about Christianity, but they too agreed to put personal religious views aside and to establish a secular state free from all religious doctrine. The most striking proof of our Founding Fathers' belief in a secular state was the Treaty of Tripoli, whose eleventh article begins: "As the government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion...." President Washington negotiated this treaty, the Senate ratified it without any recorded debate, and President Adams signed it.

I was surprised to find that Jerry Falwell appears to agree with this position. In an interview in Christianity Today (September, 1981) he stated that "America is not a Christian nation, it has never been a Christian nation, and it is never going to be a Christian nation." Then, with very few intervening words, he manages to Christianize America as a nation "under God" which has survived by following divine principles. Falwell completes the full circle of a logical contradiction by concluding that "God has raised up America in these last days for the cause of world evangelism and for the protection of his people, the Jews. I don't think America has any other right or reason for existence other than those two purposes."

One would look in vain in the documents of our Founding Fathers for such a parochial reason for America to exist. America exists not for the protection of the Jewish state or the evangelizing of the world. America does not exist as a mere means for any specialized interests, religious or secular. The humanist ideal for America is that America exists as an end itself: to allow for the greatest fulfillment of human freedom and dignity.

We have seen that traditional humanists believe that human beings have intrinsic value and are autonomous centers of value with free-will and moral responsibility. They hold that all persons have inalienable rights, including free expression and inquiry. They also use reason, not divine revelation, as the guide for moral action and education; but this does not mean that humanism is anti-Christian or anti-religion in general.

The fundamental principles of humanism turn out to be the principles of our state, not of any particular church. To ban the teaching of humanism in pubic schools would be to effectively ban the teaching of basic American values. The political philosophy taught in civics classes would also have to be rejected as "humanistic religion." The idea of free market capitalism is yet another contribution of classical liberalism and humanism. It too would have to be banned from our schools. Reductio ad absurdum!

interesting historical message

2011-06-05T11:27:00.001-04:00

"It is easy to see how Luther prepared the way for Hitler.”

The late DR. WILLIAM TEMPLE Archbishop of Canterbury
(“The Archbishop's Conference, Malvern, London, 1941, page 13).

Ah yes, that great believer in Christianity being a religion of the state, Adolph Hitler

One Nation "Under God"

2011-06-04T07:40:00.002-04:00

That alawys irks me. The defense of the "under God" part.

Those words were never a part of the original pledge of allegence. Those words were added in the 1950's, the era of Eugene Mcarthy. The era of extreme paranoia.

Yet people like to say that it's what the "founding Fathers" intended.

I don't think so.

I think the fuss over putting the "Under God" back into the pledge is just a ruse to keep the citizens mind off of more important subjects.

Well, Well, Well...look what one of our "Founding Fathers" has signed.

2011-06-03T20:50:00.003-04:00

The Treaty of Tripoli
Signed by John Adams

"As the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen [Muslims] ... it is declared ... that no pretext arising from religious opinion shall ever product an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries....
"The United States is not a Christian nation any more than it is a Jewish or a Mohammedan nation."
-- Treaty of Tripoli (1797), carried unanimously by the Senate and signed into law by John Adams (the original language is by Joel Barlow, US Consul)

Knowing about your history

2011-06-03T13:49:00.003-04:00

I hate hearing pundits, or pseudo political hacks say "this is not what the Founding Fathers" intended.

So yesterday I began doing some research on my own.

It helps when you work at a university, with the entire library system's catalog at my disposal.

Found some intersting stuff. In Kingsbury, The Maine townsman,or, Laws for the regulation of towns and judicial decisions, adapted to the revised statutes of Maine, 14th edition, 1872 There are provisions under title 6 Of Paupers Chapter LXII "Duties of towns relative to the poor".

1. "Towns are to relieve persons having a settlement therein, when, on occaount of poverty, they need relief. They may raise money therefor as for other charges of the town; and may at their annual meeting choose not exceeding twelve legal voters therein to be overseers of the poor."

Hummmmm, I guess there were liberals even back in the old day, huh?

other people's children

2011-06-02T06:21:00.003-04:00

So why do I have to pay taxes for education when I already put my kids through school. Why should I pay for other's educations?

Why?

Other people's children clean the office you work in, the hospital you go to for help and the streets you walk or ride on.
Other people's children run the gas station where you buy gas for your car.
Other people's children gather produce from the field, slaughter the animals, process the meat, deliver it to market and package it for sale in the supermarket or butcher shop.
Other people's children check out your groceries at the store, bag it and take it to your vehicle.
Other people's children assure your safety by patroling the city streets, directing traffic,an upholding the laws of your community.
Other people's children fight fires in the forest and in your community.
Other people's children patrol the rivers and lakes of your community.
Other people's children maintain the roads, sewers, airports, as well as staff the railways and buses.
Other people's children build your Lexus. Ford, Dodge or Kia at US assembly plants.
Other people's children prep the food, cook the food and serve the food at the resturant you go to for lunch or dinner or celebrations.
Other people's children are the Geek Squad at Best Buy that fixes your computer.
Other people's children are dental hygeinists, CNA's, physical therapists, occupational therapists.
Other people's children cut lawns, clean and maintain pools, sweep the city streets.
Other people's children serve your coffee at Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts.

So, do you really want any of those other people's kids to do these things without knowing how to read, write and reason? Do you want other people's kids to live without knowing what's happened in our past, so they don't repeat the mistakes others have made? Do you want other people's kids living off welfare because they don't know how to do something useful to earn a living?

Do you want to trust your life to an x-ray tech who can't read the instructions on the machine? Or if he or she can't read the doctor's order? What if he or she can't calculate the amount of time needed to give x-rays as a part of cancer treatment?

Do you want the pharmacy tech to know how to count the pills prescribed? Do you want the person who makes prosthetic legs, arms, etc to know how to measure the peice they are making accurately?

Do you want the military who defend your nation to know how to think in a firefight and keep themselves and their comrades safe?

What's wrong with paying to educate other people's children?

Nothing.

We all benefit when the children of our neighbors are educated because we all benefit from their efforts.

Good citizens know what's important. Selfish citizens should go live in a cave.

Just my opinion.

Vouchers? An educational free ride.

2011-06-01T19:33:00.004-04:00

My kids went to private elementary school. My husband and I paid their tuition. We sometimes had to put the money on a credit card and pay it off in installments, but we knew the sacrifice was worth it to us so our kids could be given a religious based education. It was our choice.

We still paid our taxes. You know those funny payments that would be used to fund the public education system we were not using. Why? Because we were and still are, as far as I know, good citizens.

Did we ever ask for our taxes back? No. We didn't ask that our children go to school for free, or ask someone else to pay our kids tuition. No. We made a choice and we paid for it.

So, now the big deal is "Charter Schools" which are really private schools funded by taxpayer money. Some charge tuition.

Some legislators and governors want to allow people who choose the "Charter School" option for their children to get "vouchers" to pay them back for what they have to pay in charges and tuition to send thier kids to these private/public schools.

Maybe I'm being thick headed, but that's seems like someone says give my kids a better education, let me pay my taxes, and then give me back the taxes I paid so my kids get to go to school for "free".

Free. As in not paying taxes for anyone so the kids get to go to school but still getting a break/benefit for sending their children to a not regular public school.

I don't think that is fair.

I sent my kids to Catholic school. Religious education. God.

Public school. Secular education. Civic sponsored.

So then how do vouchers fit into the "render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's"

Beats me.

Seems more like giving somone something for nothing.

But then that's just my opinion, right?

Don't you just hate people who expect you to pay for the stuff they use, but you don't need or intend to use?

Yeah.

But I don't.

Because there are rules for being a good citizen and they include being a part of a whole, even if it means supporting a public education system that you're not using.

Or for food stamps you don't need.

Or free dental or medical care to people who can't afford to pay for insurance premiums.

Render to Caesar, and don't complain about it.

Just my opinion naturally.

corporations as citizens

2011-06-01T15:27:00.000-04:00

If corporations are given the rights as people I want to see the Supreme Court, or any court for that matter, cross examine the "document" which is the corporation. I don't mean a human represenative of the corporate entity, because that is NOT the corporation. I want to see the stack of papers that comprise the corporation answer questions. I want to see it walk, and talk and eat and vote. Then and only then will I believe what that damn bumper sticker says "Corporations are people too."

Creation? An ongoing thing, but not evolution?

2011-05-31T19:48:00.003-04:00

It occurs to me that if God created everything in 6 days and then rested there are some unanswered questions.

If there is no evolution, and God created only 1 man and 1 woman should't every man and woman be a carbon copy of Adam and Eve? Or did God make several models and forget to tell us? Should we all have brown eyes and brown hair and maybe olive skin, or brown?

If God stopped creating after 6 days, and then rested, how did we get multiethnic people? Where did red hair come from? Shouldn't the world be one race with one ethnic make up?

Recently scientists have determined that all people with blue eyes got their genetic make up from a female who was the first "mutation" she was the first blue eyed humanoid. Does that mean that God didn't stop creating after 6 days but later decided he liked blue eyes and specifically created someone with them? Or are blue eyes just a figment of our imagination?

If God created everything in one day why does man think he has to improve it? Genetically modified grain, is that God continuing to create the world? Does that mean we have been in "day 6 mode" for hundreds of thousands of years?

So creation is it, and nothing evolves? Then every viral infection is specifically created by God? So antibiotic resistance bacteria are created by God? If there is no evolution then shouldn't there be only one virus? One bacteria?

See if you think about it the only thing that makes sense IS evolution.

From the Archdiocese of MIami "Let's Talk"

2011-05-31T06:55:00.001-04:00

Don't blame the poor for financial crisis

The government, along with businessmen and ordinary people, are all trying to find the causes of the financial crisis of 2007-2009. Should we blame the government for what went wrong? And if so, in what way?

In December, the Republican minority within the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) determined that the misguidede policies of government, designed to increase the number of homeowners among relatively poor people, pushed too many people to get subprime mortgages they could not afford.

This information pleased representatives in the House, especially those with an eye on the 2012 elections, but do these members of the FCIC have any evidence to back their claim? Are poor people in the United States responsible for causing the most serious global crisis in more than a generation?

No, definitely not, and we in the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, who work directly with the poor, know that perfectly well. It is true that some poor families have lost their homes and many have been unable to pay the rent; but during our visits to those in need we have noticed that they are more likely to have belonged to the middle class, with good jobs which they lost due to the crisis, and that they could not only pay their mortgages but also send their children to private schools.

Agreeing with our "no" are highly knowledgeable people such as Daron Acemoglu of MIT, who spoke in January at the annual meeting of the American Finance Association, as well as writers such as Simon Johnson, former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund. They do not agree that the poor of the United States were the cause of this crisis that is still affecting us and causing more people approach us for help - families who never thought they would be in such a dismal situation.

If someone is to blame we need to look to large private companies, monstrous mortgage lenders like Countrywide, Ameriquest, and many, many more who were backed by large investment banks within and outside the United States. Many of them received government bailouts after the crisis, money that was not given to those who had taken those mortgages and were indebted, and who in the end lost their homes.

It is true that those who accuse the government of responsibility for what went wrong are correct, because there were many years when financial regulation was lacking, and politicians took advantage of this to give boosts to these large private companies and banks. Wall Street especially benefitted from the housing boom. Without their complicity, no poor or low income families could think of owning a home, even with the invented jobs and fraudulent paperwork created by mortgage brokers. I personally worked as a realtor for many years, and I could not qualify any person for a mortgage if that person did not have enough income to ensure repayment of the mortgage - something that later was done without shame.

Those who are now suffering the most are people with a low educational level who are earning lower wages, who have lost their homes, their jobs, the ability to send their children to private schools, their cars - in short, everything. I assure you these people have not created this crisis. Nevertheless they are paying for it, and the saddest thing is that we have no resources with which to help these families in their grief.

For information about the St. Vincent de Paul Society, go to www.svdpusa.org or call 305-474-9010 or 305-762-1125.
Donations may be sent to:
St. Vincent de Paul Society
P.O. Box 431232
Miami, Florida 33243

Victor Martell
St. Vincent de Paul Society
Monday, May 30, 2011

Click here

"Corporate Citizens"

2011-05-31T06:17:00.003-04:00

This is a letter to the editor printed in today's (5/31/2011) Miami Herald. I agree with it.

"The Government Accountability Office said that 72 percent of all foreign corporations and about 57 percent of all U. S. companies doing business in the United States paid no federal income taxes for at least one year between 1998 and 2005.

Maybe it is time for a corporate Alternative Minimum Tax. If it's OK for citizens - and corporations are now citizens - why not?"

E.T. Shafer, Islamorada

all good things must come to an end

2011-05-30T19:43:00.002-04:00

First I was sick, and then my vacation began and I was still sick.

But for the past 2 days I have finally felt like myself and was jsut begining to enjoy being home.

But tomorrow it all ends.

Tomorrow I return to work.

And I don't want to.

Darn.

Why can't I jsut win the Powerball so I can be a stay at home lazy person again?

I love 'em don't you?

2011-05-30T11:01:00.003-04:00

You know .. those people who pay too much in taxes...the ones who "don't get anything back from the government for the money they are forced to pay."

Well, I guess they live like hermits, growing their own food. They must not use the interstate highway system, or eat meat certified by the USDA, and they don'thave bank accounts insured by the FDIC.

They can't drive to work in cars that have to meet Federal Safety regulations. They would be getting something for their money if they did, right?

I am sure they have never gone to a national park on vacation, you know, places like Independence Hall in Philadelphia,PA to see the Liberty Bell or Liberty Island to see the Statue of LIberty in NY, or the Alamo in San Antonio TX or the Everglades National Park, in Florida or the Grand Canyon in AZ or any of the monuments and museums in Washington DC which are all government supported and maintained.

They just sit at home in their Federally insured FHA mortgaged houses, watching a TV that was built according to the blueprints filed in the US Patent Office and specifications in the Code of Federal Regulations. They watch all kinds of programing because the FCC regulates such things so that no one group can monopolize the airways, that inclues TV and radio and also the phone service.

They probably never travel by air and rail because the Federal Transportation Agency makes sure the conveyances they travel on meet national standards.

They can't be sending their kids to college by borrowing money funded by Federal Pell Grants,or go to college themselves from "entitlements" like the GI bill for those who served in the military.

Nope, those people pay too damn much in taxes and get nothing for it.

I feel so sorry for them.

Decoration Day

2011-05-30T08:27:00.002-04:00

That's what they used to call Memorial Day.

It was a day set aside for the windows and survivors of soldiers to honor their departed by going to cemetaries and "decorating" the graves of the fallen with flags.

Too bad people don't do such things any more.

volunteers

2011-05-29T22:24:00.002-04:00

Being responsible.

Should it be expected or rewarded?

How can we teach our children about responsibility? Do we reward them? Bribe them to be responsible? Do we give them treats for doing the right thing, or do we teach them to do the right thing BECAUSE it is the right thing?

Somehow I think it's the latter. If it weren't then those who ae giving of themselves to load sandbags in floods or clean up the debris field in Joplin would be asking for money, woudln't they?

So maybe this does prove it. Prove what you may ask?

Virtue is its own reward.

Memorial Day history

2011-05-29T17:06:00.002-04:00

People will be very patriotic tomorrow. Waving flags and remembering the dead from the current war. But the "holiday" was actually started to commemorate the memory of the dead from the Civil War. Those who died on both sides of the conflict are honored.

So when some right wing yahoo turns it into a "we support our troops in the Middle East" event, remember they are just borrowing the day from those who fought to keep America together, as one nation.

more disasters

2011-05-29T14:35:00.002-04:00

Well there were floods, and then tornadoes and all the talk about the cities that were flooded went away. Now there's nothing spectacular to report arout in the weather - but wait. June 1 is the begining of Hurricane Season. So expect updates and frequent references to tropical disturbances,waves, depressions, storms and hurricanes.

Statistically it's been a very DRY May in Florida, and that usually means a very active and wet hurricane season (think wooly caterpillar measurements up north). So, now we wait.

But at least a hurricane gives you warning. If it's coming your way you have days to get yourself together and hunker down, or get out of the way. Tornadoes? You've got minutes to run for you life.

If I have to pick a natural disaster to befall me, I'll take the hurricane every time.

We survived Andrew, that was a category 5. After that not much scares us anymore. Heck I still drive to the grocery store in a category 1 with winds of 75 mph. But no matter what strength a storm the first of the season will be you can bet it will be plastered all over the media just like the blizzards, floods, forest fires, earthquakes and tornadoes.

For some of us it's called nature. For others it's entertainment.

national debt

2011-04-13T09:45:00.002-04:00

Since they now admit that the increased national debt was caused by 2 things:

The Tax cuts initiated by Geroge W Bush (AFTER he left office)
and the cost of the WARS, also caused by George W. Bush

So then, dear Tea Party Republicans and all you conservatives, can you explain to me why the huge national debt is now being blamed on the DEMOCRATS?????

What about us?

2011-04-06T16:03:00.002-04:00

OK congress, you want to balance the budget.

What are YOU willing to give up? Cut your salary by 25%, cut your staff by 10%, give up franking privlidges, if you want to park near your work place PAY for the spot. No freebies. Do you get a "reduced cost" lunch in the Senate or House Office Building cafeteria? Well? Do you? Change that to a "food court" and pay for you cheeseburger or tuna sub like the rest of us poor slobs. Do you have an "executive gym"? Do you pay dues? Well, do you? Start charging for the use of the facilities. If we want such things WE poor working American Taxpayers, have to pay for it, why don't you?

Health care? Hey, ifyou don't want US to have Medicare why should you have health care as a retired senator or represenative? Before you take from us take it from yourselves. Give up the retirement package congressional represenatives have and go on Social Security. Give up your perks and pay into social security and medicare like the rest of us poor slobs. Pay our own way, like you tell us we should be doing. If you don't pay why should we? You are the ones benefiting from Socialized medicine, because WE pay for it.

Since protecting the wealthy is supposed to creat jobs SHOW ME THE STATISTICS that at least 10 big corporations in the USA have created or increased jobs in the last 10 years. If you can't show me the results, then TAX THE RICH. They have the money and if they aren't going to use it to stimulate economic growth and added wealth in our country then tax them double for taking the money out of the USA.

Any company that makes a profit should be paying taxes. Any investor who makes money on his investment should be paying taxes. No exceptions, no exclusions.

Stop lying and playing games with the American people. If you are serious about cutting the debt then YOU take the first step.

cutting the budget

2011-03-09T16:10:00.003-05:00

Politicians say they want to cut the budget and live within our means.

How about these for ideas?

All politicians (city, county, state, federal) take an immediate 25% pay cut.

All politicians give up 10% of their current staff (fire them lay them off, whatever) until the budget is balanced.

All politicians give up any retirement benfits package they have and contribute to Social Security, like the rest of us have to.

All politicians give up any "funded" health insurance package and pay for their own health insurance - through the same HMO that other local, state, federal workers get through their employeer.

All politicians give up "perks" like private cars and drivers, and learn to fly on commercial airlines instead of "comping" rides in Lear Jets with high priced influence peadelers.

Then there are the other things that should be considered.

Have you realized that by the current system most city/county firemen get paid a full salary even when they are sleeping? Yeah they do 48 hours on and then get 48 hours off. So they spend time in the firestation. When not fighting fires what do they do? I asked friends nationwide. Here's the answers I was given:
they wash firetrucks and maintain equipment, then they wash their own vehicles.
they play basketball
they watch TV
they play board games
they play video games
they do things of a personal nature on a computer
they work out and lift weights
they SLEEP

Now it seems to me that we pay taxes for firefighters to fight fires. So why pay them when they aren't? Why pay a premium per hour wage when it's not what they are doing?

OK, they are technically "on call" but when they are not fighting fires I think they should be paid only minimum wage for hanging around waiting to do the job we expect them to do - respond to a fire alarm and put out fires. Can you think of how much money that would save?

Everyone thinks firemen are essential. Well so do I. I think they are at least as essential as teachers, yet when budget cuts are proposed does anyone cut firemen's salaries? They may lay off a few people, but they don't propose to cut their salaries like they do to teachers.

So, now let's get this straight. If politicians are serious about reducing spending then do it, do the stuff that people haven't thought of yet.

Think outside the box. Pay on a tier system where you only get a "base" salary for being there, and you get paid the "premium" salary when you actually do the work you were hired for.

Sounds fair to me.

That means politicians should be collecting far less than they are now because no one knows how much or how littel they actually work.

national anthem

2011-02-08T12:47:00.002-05:00

For anyone interested in protesting the way the national anthem was disrespected at the Super Bowl on Sunday here's the link to the NFL.

www.nfl.com/contact-us

I also contacted my congressman and requested that he put into the Congressional Record a motion that ould make it illegal to "artictically interpret" or "oversing" the National Anthem, and that in all public venues it should be sung, respectfully, with dignity and as originally written.

If you agree I suggest you do likewise.

what ever happened to elected office?

2011-01-27T12:05:00.002-05:00

It used to be that one wanted to SERVE the nation so one would run for office.

I had always been told that the Democrats wanted to help the people. To use their service in government for the betterment of the community of citizens. The Republicans, on the other hand, were for the promotion of business interests.

It still seems to be that way.

But somewhere along the way the idea of "service" to the country has become just a saying used to recruit people into the military.

People who "service" their communities by working for a non-profit agency are looked down upon. Satisfaction and success are measured by monitary gain, not by emotional well being.

So our politicians want to "serve" the nation by making sure business is successful.

Am I misreading the constitution? Aren't we as a nation supposed to be acting on behalf of the people (whether we are the same political party, race, creed, ethnicity or not.) Aren't we supposed to be fostering the growth of our country by helping make the lives of its citizens better?

So why now does it seem to be the job of the government, not to help the people, but to help the people who make money?

To me, this is another economic bubble. A time bomb of epic proportion that will explode as the country implodes under the burden of not debt, but of "wealth" created for a few on the labor of the many citizens who are unrecognized and under represented.

Where are stimulus dollars?

2010-10-16T20:28:00.002-04:00

Are people stupid?

The government gave it to banks and businesses. And what happened?

Banks don't loan money, afraid of not having profits and able to pay investors.

Businesses don't invest in materials and jobs. They hold on to the stimulus money "in case things get worse".

And what happens?

Things get worse because the banks don't loan money and the businesses don't use it.

So how is THAT the governments fault?

Are citizens so stupid they don't understand? Apparently they are.

So blame the politicians and get rid of them and put in their place "businessmen" who arre running for office. How much worse can we get by giving the problem CAUSERS the ability to cause more?

church politics and science

2010-08-01T19:57:00.003-04:00

Back in history the Catholic church impeded the study of the universe because the thought that the earth was not the center of the universe was unacceptable to church teaching.

Now they are discovering the bones of pre-human species, and Christian fundamentalistist denounce such things as herasy and the teachings of the devil.

Doesn't anyone see a connection here?

Doesn't anyone else realize that the Bible is just a collected book of stories that were edited so that really ignorant people could in a limited way, understand the origin of man?

Trust me on this. God did not LITERALLY create earth in 7 twenty four hour days, and He did not create man overnight.

A day in biblical terms is an unspecified passage of time, but bronze age man could not phatom such things. So they wrote "day" to indicate a passage of time.

Yet literalists insist it was as the bible protrays it.

And thus I question that man is any more intelligent now than he was 2000 years ago.

Catholic church: conclusion

2010-07-27T09:56:00.001-04:00

I have come to the conclusion that the Catholic church is just as feudal, if not more so, than the Islamic religion. There is one appointed head, elected from the elite, who rules a principality, and has lieutants of lesser and less importance in charge of smaller and smaller fifedoms, all which culminate with the serfs, who are told only to pay homage, tithe to support it and obey all of the rules. Doesn't sound like the teaching of God to me, sounds more like the greed and pride of man.

Tips and Bonuses

2010-07-27T09:17:00.003-04:00

Seems to me that most people who can afford to tip - don't.

I have heard people say, those waiters (wait staff) get paid for what they do, why should I leave a tip?

TIPS is short for "to insure prompt service", that's what it was meant to be for. It has since become an excuse for employers not to give a fair hourly wage because "they make up for it in tips"

Yet executives, who have - even in this day of recession - budgets for business entertainment tend to begrudge a tip.

However, those same executives want their "bonuses". Excuse me, isn't a bonus a reward for doing more than you are being paid for? Isn't that like being "tipped" for doing a good job?

So, why do we "bonus" people who do a bad job, and then justify it by saying that they can't get any good people to work for a company unless they offer bonuses?

If waiters don't deserve tips then executives don't deserve bonuses because they are boing doing the job they were hired to do.

COLLAGEN

2010-04-15T14:38:00.001-04:00

I wonder how many women would want to buy products with collagen if they knew it was a byproduct of aborted fetuses?

living with someone with PTSD

2010-04-13T08:54:00.002-04:00

It's hard to expalin the strain or anxiety the rest of the family feel. It's like constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. And the only person who can fix it isn't willing to get the help he needs to do so, so the rest of us learn to "adjust" and "cope" by going to therapy ourselves.

Jesus the excuse

2010-04-12T12:34:00.002-04:00

Why do some people who call themselves Christians use Jesus as an excuse for not facing up to their own responsibilities?

And why do others blame people who haven't "accepted Jesus as their personal savior" for having a mental illness?

The more I see of the kind of judgemental attitudes with belief in Jesus as the root, the more agnostic I become.

Listening

2010-04-09T08:20:00.001-04:00

Did you ever notice, men and women use the term listen or listening in different ways.

When a man says "You aren't listening to me." He means, "you aren't obeying me."

When I woman says "You aren't listening to me." She means, you aren't hearing what I say and what I want and need.

PTSD

2010-04-07T11:04:00.002-04:00

My husband, 39 years after being discharged from military service, is suffering from PTSD.

There is supposed to be help for Vererans and their families. And there is IF you are a Gulf War, Iraq War or Afgan war veteran. There is virtually nothing available in MY area for men who returned from Viet Nam.

So, now what?

So now I make phone calls, and get no where because Viet Nam vets have never counted and they still don't.

So now I have to look for help on my own.

Life sucks.

"I don't recognize this country"

2009-09-03T19:57:00.002-04:00

I am frankly sick to death of those ignorant naysayers who take every opportunity to cry in public making our elected President look like he's a cross between Che and Hitler.

They are always quoting their "rights" under the constitution, but few of them have ever read more than a "sound byte" provided by some political organization. They know they are right and they know their God given "rights".

Well, duh.

God didn't grant us these rights - our democratic republic did. If God granted them, without a doubt, every country in the world would have the same rights.

Can you tell me what's so bad about a President addressing school children and trying to encourage them to stay in school and set goals for themselves? Is it only a bad idea when a Democrat does it? Or was it equally as horrific an idea when Ronald Regan or George H. W. Bush did it?

When the Republican presidents spoke to the children did they spread partisan philosophy about education and the American way of life? How about "Just say no". Is that part of a general partisan philosophy driven home to all school aged children by the Republican administration?

I thought we'd rid ourselves of ignorance when "W" vacated the White House. I guess I was wrong, the "W" virus spread, it was not contained.

Well what did I really expect? These are the same people who were dumb enough to vot for him in the first place.

health care reform

2009-08-30T17:05:00.001-04:00

I have been thinking a lot about it, as I recovered from the flu. I keep wondering why someone doesn't show me how much money I will be saving with reform?

Right now, if you work they take medicare payments from your check - and you are not able to use it - so you're paying for insurance you can't use. When you can "qualify" for Medicare you still have to pay for it, and then pay out of pocket for the things that Medicare does NOT cover.

Then, if you are not on Medicare and still working, you are paying a premium for health insurance from a private company to insure yourself and your family. Most medical insurance policies dicatate that you have to pay a co-pay and a deductible when you do use your insurance, and there are limits on who takes the insurance, which hospitals you can go to and how much of your illness will or will not be considered "medically necessary" so you might have to pay even more. Some even are specific to locale, meaning there is no coverage, or limited coverage if you venture out of the "service area"

If you have a previously diagnoised illness it might not be covered, no matter how much you have paid into the system.

Some medical insurance has attached a prescription plans, others do not. Some cover glasses and dental work. No insurance I know if covers hearing aids, yet just as many people have hearing aids as do glasses any more. You don't get your medications for free, instead American citizens have to spend retail dollars to keep the American drug manufacturers "solvent" by paying the highest prices in the western world for drugs that can be bought much cheaper in other countries. Ah yes, you can get them discounted at specific pharmacies, but my question is if ONE pharmacy can sill make money selling the drugs that much cheaper why are we allowing other pharmicies to charge more for them?

So we let the pharmaceutical cojmpanies tell us what we can use and how much we can pay for it. We let the doctor's dictate where we can go for treatment and because they all don't accept the same insurance, and if you want Dr. X you have to go when he allows you to go when you need hospitalization. We have to stay within a rationed system of care going only to the places deemed acceptable to the insurer and doctor. And even doing so, we have to decide how much care we can afford to "buy".

Now...which part of this grand system seems better to you than paying ONE insurance premium via taxes and receiving 100% fee free care for ANY and ALL medical problems? Additionally , we would not be limited to location of service or the number of times that service is rendered.

How much,I wonder, does the accumulated cost per citizen in medicare cost, medicare usage fee, supplemental insurance, private health, dental and prescription premiums differ from any citizen paying no other fees, but their taxes for comprehansive health care? Has someone compared the numbers? The costs? If so, why the hell NOT?

Fat - it's all about choice

2009-08-05T15:14:00.004-04:00

People complain about being fat, especially around here.

But This week I noticed something that may have escaped some folks.

The women who are the heaviest in the offices are the ones to eat more.

Lunch for the skinny ones are likely to be soup and a piece of fruit, or a yogurt and some fruit.

Lunch for the ever complaining heavy women consisted of Wendy's combo (with fries instead of a salad) or Hot Pockets, but not just one - which is one serving - but BOTH.

No wonder they complain. It's not easy to be thinner when you eat all the wrong foods.

the threshold

2009-08-02T10:51:00.002-04:00

Having spent many of my formative years in less than ideal neighborhoods I can tell you I've seen it used repeatedly for years.

A cop is called to a home because of some suspected illegal activity or disturbance. If the call turns out to be a false alarm the cops don't want to have to log it as such. the police ask if the person will "step outside" for a moment. Now, woudlnt' you think a person would want to stay inside and keep such matters private?

I have see police officesrs question the owner of a property so they "annoy" the person. When the person become loud or asks for the badge number the police office or try to get information from the officer so he can be reported to his superiors the cop walks away - conviently outside of the residence - across the threshold.

Once the person who has been annoyed crosses the threshold the cop arrests him for distrubing the peace.

Apparently the charge can only be made if the person being charged is "in public" not in his own home/residence.

It's a tactic.

And it's wrong.

birth certificate

2009-08-02T10:46:00.002-04:00

As soon as Lou Dobbs and Rush Limbaugh produce an "original copy" of their birth certificates I will beleive they are US citizens and not illegal aliens, undocumented workers, who are capable of holding jobs in the United States of America. If the copies they produce are just the same authroized certified copies issued by the states in which they were hatche - er I mean born - then I will not beleive they have to rights granted as natural born US citizens, to claim freedom of speech so they can mud rack and scandalize every item of "news" they choose.

Until then I suspect they are really here in America to cause disention and disruption of our democracy.

the 2nd Amendment

2009-07-27T16:31:00.002-04:00

Have you ever read it.

The Second amendment I mean.

Here it is in it's entirity.

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

Got that?

Militia.

Nothing is said about self protection or hunting or sports shooting is there?

The right granted is to arm a Militia to protect the" state".

So why do we allow the NRA to take that one sentence and make it into " the right to do what I want when I own a gun?" AND why aren't all gun owners made to spend time in the "militia" in order to obtain the right they were given?

Can someone explain to mean the reason they claim the right and not the responsibility?

time for a confession

2009-07-12T11:05:00.002-04:00

My sheets don't match this week.

No, I didn't go to a designer label at the linen store and find the "perfect" set of sheets to use on my bed. I have three sets of matching sheets but today my husband needed some "old sheets" to use to cover some newly planted grass seed, so I went into the line closet and found some older ones.

What I found was some "sets" had perfectly good parts, still usable, but other parts were worn badly. So I gave my husband the worn parts and kept the good. So my bedsheets today are unmatched because I used what I had.

Some overly self indulgent people will call me "trashy" for doing this. Some call it "poor". I call it being thrifty. If we all used what we have instead of replacing things that don't need replacing we'd all be doing something environmentally good.

This is something you parents should teach you about thrift.

Unfortunately most of what we learn about household thrift comes from TV, and they tell you not to be happy with what you have, but to trash it and buy the new and improved.

They used to call TV the great wasteland.

I think it sould be renamed the great "wasteful"

quitting

2009-07-04T08:40:00.002-04:00

So the governor of Alaska quits. Why? Is she going to run for the congress? Is she going to make a bid for the next presidential election? Is she being appointed Republican spokesperson because people think Cheney, Steele and Limbaugh are a joke? Only time will tell.

are you seeing this

2009-07-01T08:26:00.002-04:00

I have always noticed that people need food. It's a part of beign a Vincentian.

What I am noticing is more distrubing than that.

Mothers aren't eating.

I have noticed that some parents, mothers in particular, who have jobs and go to work and try to supply their kids with enough to eat, are doing without.

I have noticed women taking "tea"in the breakroom and calling it lunch. OK I can see an occasional "I forgot my lunch" because heavens knows I have done so myself upon occasion. But this is a pattern. No lunch day after day. And the women don't look healthy. They are tired, lythargic, losing weight.

Do other's see this? or do they take the "oh no I just have tea today" at face value and forget about it as they eat their own lunches? Do they talk about the person later saying "I wonder if she has enough to eat" and then forget about it, or do they ask the person to share their own lunch?

Another thing I had not noticed before is wearing clothes that have not been laundered. OK if we have clothes that need dry cleaning I know we always wear them more than once, unless they have been stained. But lately I have noticed that people who wear jeans, slacks, shirts, blouses that clearly have been worn a full day, are wearing them again without laundrying them.

Why?

Money - or lack thereof.

If you don't have enough money for food, you generally don't have enough for "other things". If you work, you can get by cleaning yourself (hands face, etc.)in the washroom at work with soap provided. But what about your clothes?

If you live in an apartment that has no washing machine you have to take your laundry to the laundrymat. That costs money. Detergent costs money.

So you make an effort. Maybe you rinse things out in the sink and hang them up to dry if you can. Or you wear them without "refreshing" them.

What else can you do?

The CDC wants us to be clean, and make sure we wash our hands etc. to prevent the spread of H1N1 (swine flu). And I wonder how we can do that if we can't afford to keep up with normal washing.

read the directions

2009-07-01T08:11:00.002-04:00

Now the Federal Government is debating limiting the use of Tylenol. Why? Because it can be overused and cause liver damage.

Is there a point to this?

There has always been a warning on the package. Take only as directed.

For those who don't bother to read the directions let me clue you in.

You don't take it EVERY DAMNED DAY. It's for the occasional relief of pain and fever. Occasional, not daily, do you get that much? Do you have a fever every day? If you do you need more than Tylenol honey. Do you have a headache every day? If so read the damned label:
STOP USE AND ASK A DOCTOR IF PAIN GETS WORSE OR LASTS MORE THAN 10 DAYS or if fever gets worse or lasts more than 3 days.

The recommended dose for adults and children over 12 is 2 tablets every 4 to 6 hours while symptoms last.

That doesn't mean take 2 tablets and when the symptoms go away take another 2 because it's 4 hours later. It means don't take any more than you need.

Right on the label it states:
"Taking more than the recommended dose (overdose) may cause liver damage."

It also warns against taking Tylenol and using alcohol ...again a warning 'may cause liver damage".

And this isn't enough already to make people take precautions about taking the OTC drug?
Apparently not because people who self medicate with OTC medications are apparently iliterate because if the READ THE DIRECTIONS they wouldn't need MORE restrictions on the medication by the government to stop themselves from overdosing.

And now they are cutting funds and many schools are cutting budgets.

So even those who in the future MIGHT be able to read have no hope anymore because those who don't read will cause our government to protect them from themselves ( and limit us all.)

health care reform

2009-06-21T16:57:00.000-04:00

If we want reform then congress should be given a new health care plan.

Whatever the WORST HMO that is available to government employees should be the standard.

No government employee, not even Biden or Obama, should be given anything better than what the least government employee gets.

Let congress find out about copays and formularies and waiting times for hospitalizations and surgery and even appointments and referrals.

That way if THEY want change - EVERYONE gets change.

the caught the killer

2009-06-15T10:55:00.002-04:00

The Miami Dade County Police, along with the Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay police have arrested an 18 year old male who they say is the serial cat killer. His mother lives around the corner from my house, his father lives about 1.5 miles away. Most of the killings were done within walking distance of either home.

Why did he do it? No one knows.

He is currently being psychologically evaluated.

Two other arrest warrents were issued, but not yet served, so there are probably others involved. I hope they catch all of them and prosecute all of them to the fullest extent of the law.

Memorial Day 2009

2009-05-25T09:19:00.002-04:00

Who do you honor today?

My father never served in the military, nor did my grandfather. However, my Uncle Frank did. He was a PFC all the way through World War II. He did what he was told, and he survived the landing at Normandy and fought the Germans in Europe.

My father-in-law served in the South Pacific during World War II, he was a Sea Bee, building landing fields, and fighting the Japanese.

Ken's Uncle Henry, who served in Korea, the forgotten war.

Ken's Uncle Bruno, who served in the Army.

My Uncle John, who during World War II was a clerk in the Army, and never left the USA.

My Godfather, Uncle KoKo (Henry), who was in the Army Air Corps as a navagator towards the end of the war.

My husband, Ken, served 3 tours in Viet Nam, two on board a carrier, the Kearsarge, one tour at Cam Ran Bay in country. He was a "aviator storekeeper", meaning he supplied and ordered parts for aircrast.

Our friend Hank, who enlisted in the Navy at the same time as Ken and was sent to Viet Nam as a Corpsman.

My friend Carolyn, who after college graduation enlisted in the Army and served her country.

My sister's friend Janet, who although she has a PhD in Medical Technology, was only accepted into the Army Reserves as enlisted personnel because Med. Techs aren't considered as professional as even Nurses.

A casual friend of my son, who name is Piers, who served in the first Gulf War, tending the bodies of the dead.

Or do I also honor those who I did not know, those who are nameless, those who are now homeless wandering the streets of the nation they once defended?

Do I honor the French, the British, the Canadians? Do I honor only those who were our allies? Or do I honor those who served and the fallen of our enemies as well. After all, they too were defending their country.

Yes. I honor them all. The living and the dead. Allies and enemies.

After all today is Memorial Day. A day to remember those who have sacrificed for their nation, whichever that nation was.

serial killer

2009-05-20T13:14:00.002-04:00

There is a serial killer in my neighborhood. The killer targets cats so far, skinning them alive or removing their faces or cutting them opened and leaving their intestines beside them. He/she/it
takes cats from back yards, then a few days or a week later returns the mutilated bodies to their "homes".

It's horrific.

And if this serial cat murder is not caught, given tme, he will turn to other pursuits - like killing humans.

I hope when they find him he gets the help he needs if he is a child/teen. If it's an adult that is the cause of this mutilation I hope the courts see fit to do to him what he has done to the animals - an eye for an eye - as barbaric as it sounds.

water restrictions

2009-05-17T11:29:00.000-04:00

It rained a little when I was in chuch during the sermon, a typical FL downpour ofr about 5 minutes, and by the time we were dismissed it was already dry, except for one or two puddles. It feels like we are inhaling a wet sponge the humidity is so heavy, but the clouds seem to be moving in places other than here so we are getting very little benefit. My grass looks like hay and I have taken to using "stale" water to water the potted plants outside on a daily basis. Water restrictions mean we can't use a sprinkler. It's a $500 fine for EACH occurance if caught. I can't afford that.

Killer Flu Pandemic

2009-05-01T21:40:00.002-04:00

Did you know that in any given year on average 36,000 people worldwide die from the flu? That's ANY flu. Why did they get so excited about this one? Slow news time? No terror threat to hang over our head? And why are so many people in a panic? I went to the pharmacy for my Rx yesterday and guess what? There is NO hand sanitizer to be had anywhere. The shelves are totally devoid of even the house brands.

Why?

Panic that's why.

The news media has hyped this H1N1 virus so much that people are absolutely sure that they will be getting the flu and die.

Well, a young 17 year old girl from Hallendale High School in Broward County has tested positive for it. The girl recently visited Mexico and has a very mild case, according to the Jo DiMagio Children's Hospital doctor's who treated her. The girl has not been in school since 4/24/09.

So as a precaution the Broward School District is closing the school for 3 days and sending in a cleaning crew to disinfect it. They also contacted everyone who was in contact with the girl and those people are being tested for the virus. So I think we have a handle on it, dont' you?

The places that really could be devisteated by this virus, even in the mild form, are places like Haiti.

In America we have resources and even our poor have better access to health care than most of the population of Haiti. We also have a vast communication network that can tell us all how to contain the spread of this illness. Those two things are mostly unavailable in Haiti, which dooms the population to this easily transmitted flu.

Should we panic?

No. Should we worry about others?

If we have any grain of humanity we should.

Will we?

I don't know.

Does a massive humanitarian effort to stop the spread of disease get the media as many rating points as spreading panic in our own country?

I don't want to work tomorrow

2009-04-26T20:08:00.002-04:00

Actually, I don't want to work anymore.

I am 60 years old and tired.

I am tired of giving my energy to someone else to do something I no longer like to do.

I want to stay at home and get the things done I need to do around the house. I also want to sleep, and rest and exercise and do fun things. I don't want to spend 3 or 4 hours commuting and 7.5 hours working every weekday.

I was hoping I could call in rich - you know - win the lotto or Powerball, but I guess that's not in the cards, or shall we say in the numbers, for me.

Instead, I will go to work, and dislike it until I hate it more and more each day until the day I can retire.

smiling

2009-04-19T16:01:00.002-04:00

Trust me on this ok.

Not everyone in the world wants to smile all of the time.

I am one who does not.

I think it's unatural to smile. Sure, it takes fewer muscles to smile than to frown, but frowing is more natural. It's the way the face "hangs". We are not born with a smile on our faces. It's something that's acquired, the ability to smile.

Smiling indicates acceptance. A reward for good behavior. We smile at babies and puppy dogs and kittens to show our approval. We frown when we disapprove.

I neither smile nor frown. My face just is in a neutral pose, without any uplifting corners of my mouth and without my teeth showing. It's the way I am.

Yet some woman I know from church practically accosted me at the supermarket because I wasn't "smiling". She touched my arm and wouldnt' let me go saying I had to smile.

I nearly decked her.

It's my choice to smile or not, and it's my personal space she was invading.

No matter how many times I told her I didn't feel the need to smile she kept insisting that she wouldnt' let me go until I did. I told her that the longer she held on to my arm the less likely it would be that I would smile because her behavior annoyed me.

She didn't take the hint.

What is it with some people? Dont' they know that people have personal boundries?

Apparently not.

She was so upsetting to me I wanted to deck her. But I restrained myself. The next thing she wanted to do was hug me. Oh Lord, save me from such people. Then she said she would pray for me and that I said I would accept, as long as she prayed for me in her home and not laying hands on me.

Prayer is acceptable. Touch is not.

Happy Easter

2009-04-11T18:07:00.000-04:00

I hope you have a joyous Easter with family and friends.

safe in Orlando

2009-04-05T21:21:00.003-04:00

My sister wrote me a letter which I received yesterday.

She is alive and living at a shelter for homeless women and abused women and their children, in Orlando FL.

I am glad to know she is alive and seeking help for her problems.

my sister has gone missing

2009-04-04T12:58:00.003-04:00

My sister Christine Kopczenski walked away from her life in Miami a week ago today.

She left a note dated March 27. She took with her a Land's End all weather jacket, so we think she has headed to a northern state. She often said she wanted to go to Morgantown West Virginia, but she also mentioned states like Tennessee, Kentucky and North Carolina as a place she would like to move to.

She said she would not kill herself, however she took none of her medications. It's not putting a gun to her head, it's more like passive suicide to not take the medication for diabetes, blood pressure and anxiety/depression.

I have spent a week calling police, sending e-mails, contacting agencies, distributing flyers, etc. in an effort to locate her. She said she will be homeless. She is depressed and unable to cope with circumstances in her life.

I don't want to drag her back to Miami if she does not want to come.

I have a Facebook page. I have posted her picture there. She is 55 years old, blonde with grey hair at the temple, and blue eyes. She is 5 ft. 1 inches tall, she weighs about 175 lbs. She has bad teeth, missing one tooth where a crown fell off but a post remains. She also has other chipped front teeth.

If you should see someone matching her description, please contact me.

tent cities/expectations/reality

2009-03-27T07:49:00.003-04:00

Strange isnt' it. "W" said, after hurricane Katrina, that Americans didn't live in tents. Yet another Republican, Arnold Sscharzenegger, has "tent" cities in Sacramento and no one seems inclined to do anything about helping those folks. The governor is actually going to "move" the tent occupants, but where?

Is the term "disaster" limited to something that occurs at the hands of nature only. Or should the defination be broadened to inclue that whihc was imposed by man? If FEMA can supply trailers for victims of natural disasters why can't FEMA "rent" trailers to those tent dwellers and put them up on public land?

Shades of Regan. Let's help big business, but to heck with the poor.

I ride the bus home each night. A woman rides the bus with me daily, and she gets off two stops before mine. She is a young woman with a 4 year old son. Yesterday we were seated together and she and I had a nice chat. I always suspected she worked at Walmart, which by the way is quite a ways from our house. She does. She works at the Walmart in Kendall. Her husband is also out of work so she is the primary wage earner.

To get to her job every day she wakes up at 4:30 a.m. to catch the first #1 route bus, then she transfers to the # 88 or #88A by 6:05 to get to work. (and spends $5 a day to ride the buses back and forth). She does this every week day and she said she's glad to have the job to go to because people come in every day to apply for work at Walmart and they are NOT hiring.

Bear with me, this is stream of consciousness stuff, ok?

She works hard for the pitance she gets and is happy to be able to do it .

Then I hear about these college kids. The complain that they have to "walk" so far from their cars in the parking lot. They have to get up "early" at 7:00 to make an 8:00 class. They complain about "only making $35,000.00" a year to start when and if they get a job.

There seems to be a very large gap in what life is all about.

Life isn't about what is owed to you. Life isn't about getting what you expected. Life is about dealing with the reality of what's actually happening.

The Republicans say we shouldn't sustain people who "expect" the government to bail them out.
OK, if we do that then we shouldn't sustain the spoiled little kids who expect to be given what they want because they deserve it either.

JMHO

depression/recession

2009-03-12T07:39:00.002-04:00

The government should call it what it is. A depression. If not for the use of the word economically, for the use of the word emotionally.

They call it fear.

Fear to spend.

Fear of job loss.

Fear of the future.

What it is is a depression.

The economy is depressed and so are the people.

Unable to find work because there is no work.

Hopeless.

And this time no bail out will help that feeling.

The rich are clueless.

I have heard people complaining about not having "enough" money. That's the rich wondering if they can afford to take the trip to Spain this year, and having to make due with a 2 year old luxury car. Even they are without hope because the lifestyle they have come to beleive is their right is GONE.

The poor have no hope because the jobs they depended upon to make it from pay check to paycheck, are gone.

At first there were no manuracturing jobs, then no construction jobs, and now no retial jobs.

Why?

Greed.

It was easier to sell a business to a foreign corporation and have them dismantle it and move jobs elsewhere than it was to actually MAKE A COMPANY profitable in the US.

We've outsourced our future because of the greed of the past 8 years.

And now we pay for it.

And that's what's causing a depression.

We finally realize that we did it to ourselves.

yesterday's Today interview

2009-02-08T12:20:00.001-05:00

Watched NBC's Today yesterday and that mother of 8 was interviewed, part of a larger interview to be broadcast on Tuesday. She was trying for all the world to sound rational.
She admitted that the fertility Dr. who implanted her knew that she already had 6 children because he had been the one to do them as well. And she said that the biological father of all of her children was the same person. Makes me wonder if it's actually the doctor?

No matter, when the medical community finds out who did the "deeds" I think the doctor will be in big trouble, I hope he finds his license pulled but if not then he should be totally blacklisted at least.

After the interveiw aired they asked a pyschologist what she thought of the woman and the psychologist said the mother needs serious counseling. What an understatment! I feel so sorry for the children who are gong to bear the brunt of this stigma. How traumatized do you think they will be? She said her own relationship with her mother was dysfunctional, and now she expects to have a normal loving relationship with each of her 14 children? On what planet?

Well, enough of that. At least the story gives us something to talk about...and maybe it will result in some kind of legislation or control over medical ethics. What ever happened to "first, do no harm"?

more rules from God because She said so

2009-02-01T11:06:00.002-05:00

If I were the religious leader of a church that believed that God was female I would amend a few religious laws and commandments.

Only women can fully participate in the religious celebrations of faith, because they are the only ones educated enough to understand the theology and philosophy. So only women could be priests and ministers. Men can be support persons, cleaning, dusting, washing church linens, hosting fund raisers....

If men committed adultry they should be stoned.

If men committed rape they should be stoned.

If men had sex before marriage they should be stoned.

Men should not be allowed outside the home unless accompanied by a female relative.

A Man cannot speak to a woman unless he is given permission by his female relatives.

If men had a sexual "discharge" of any kind they would have to undergo a ritual cleansing before having relations with their wife. (like the women who had to be churched after the birth of their children, or the Jewish women who must be ritually bathed after menstruation before entering relations with thier husband) Of course this would mean lots of ritual cleansing for teen age boys who have wet dreams.....but hey, not my rules. God dictates these things and we must obey the rules of God, right?

Well, what's so wring with these rules? Don't Christians, Jews and Muslims impose some of the same rules on the WOMEN of their faith?

women and religion

2009-01-31T18:35:00.002-05:00

It's taken me a while - maybe I'm slow - to realize that all of the dominant religious leaders in the world are men.

And

All of the men make all of the rules for their religion.

So I thought, what would happen if all the religions were "female" based?

What if we refered to God a She all the time, and gave Her the powers we attribute to the Almighty Being?

Well first off, Adam would be the one punished for the sin of pride (and stupidity). As it stands now religions try to say it's Eve's fault we all were removed from Paradise. Yesh, well just because she was tempted byt he snake and in turn Adam tempted Adam that doesn't mean it was her fault. Adam could have refused her temptation. But he didn't did he?

No he was weak willed. He didn't even give a good defense or try to argue about what they had been told and why eating of the forbidden fruit was the wrong thing to do.

So because of Eve the religious storytellers tell us that SHE was punished by having to suffer the pain of childbirth. How is that's different from every other animal on earth? Are female elephants also being punished for the great sin? Maybe it's female bears, or whales or dolphins that are guilty too. Makes no sense to me.

If I were a female head of a religion I would have made the blame be on Adam's head because he was too dumb to say no to a woman.

If I were a woman religious leader maybe I would make MEN feel guilty about thier bodies. I would make a rule that no man could show his limbs, and that all men must cover completely from neck to ankles only to show his body to his wife.

Because men are violent by nature, and they become trained to use their aggression to become warriors I would outlaw such training. I would mandate that men be trained in husbandry, househoeld chores and nurturing persuits. Men, obviously being as stupid as Adam, sould not be able to be educated beyond the ability to read and write on a 6th grade level. After all, if Adam didn't have it in him to argue sensibly for the philosophically and spiritual notions given to him by God then it's obvious that all men have the same fault.

Women would be the leaders, the doctors, the educators and the business people because they obviously have a clearer understanding of the intricacies of life.

All men woudl te told that they have to be married by age 30. No exceptions. If not married they would be casterated so they could not produce testosterone thus making them more docile and less likely to be violent.

Sound like I am being mean to men, doesn't it? But that's what men do to women all of the time now and no one objects.

Abraham

2008-12-30T08:25:00.002-05:00

Last Sunday the gospel was about Abraham and how after many year of being without children God promised himt hat he would have as many descendants as the stars in the sky and be the founder of a nation. So in their declining years Abraham and Sarah had Isaac.

Now maybe I am mistaken, but didn't Abraham also take to his bed, because his wife was baren, a servant girl who bore him a son, Ishmael? And Ishmael "founded" Islam?

So, then if Abraham fathered both the nation of the Jews and the nation of Muslims then why are they fighting? Sibling rilvary?

Makes no sense to me.

too much bad news

2008-12-21T21:45:00.002-05:00

A friend told me today that her son was laid off Friday. He just got married in Sept. Luckily his wife is working at least for now, but that's an iffy situation because she is a nurse and they may close down the hospital where she works.

And I got a phone call from another friend who wanted prayers for her ex-husband's wife, who was found unconcious in the bathroom this evening. They thought she had a heart attack at first, but tests proved that it was not. Now they think she may be brain dead.

This is not turning into a very Merry Christmas season at all.

sox and underware

2008-12-08T13:34:00.003-05:00

We gather the names of parishioners to help them out at Christmas. We got a call from a woman raising 3 kids on her own, who is out of work. We told her we could help by providing one "clothing" gift to each of her children.

Do you know what she asked for for her twin 7 year old daughter and 16 year old son?

Sox and underware.

You know the economy is bad when you have to ask a charity or church to provide you with the basics of clothing for your kids and when those kids will be GREATFUL to recieve sox and underware for Christmas.

writing Christmas cards

2008-11-28T13:31:00.002-05:00

Doesn't matter what you think of war.

Men and women were wounded in battle and are fighting to regain a sense of normal life.

Men and women are wounded and suffering. And many are still not at home with their families.

When writing your Christmas cards this year why not include one more? It might just make someone smile and forget the pain and suffering at least for a little while.

Send it to:

A recovering soldier
c/oWalter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Ave. NW
Washington DC 20307-5001

McCain = Socialism

2008-11-03T08:00:00.002-05:00

John McCain is desperate, he had a rally on campus last night at 12:30 a.m. Mostly to get the Hispanics to vote for him, which is a waste since they already support him.

Why? Because they think all Democrats are Socialists. In Coral Gables, where the majority of the richer Cubans live there are anti-Obama yard signs that say Obama=Socialism.

Are they nuts? Bush is the idiot who nationalized the Banking system and he’s a Republican. For those paying attention that means Bush = Socialism and therefore McCain (a Bush clone) = Socialism

For those who don’t understand the implication the first step in Socializing a country is to nationalize the banks. Yet they think it’s Obama who is Socialist?

Only goes to prove that many people just don’t look at the facts or understand history when they vote. It’s the USA Today, Fox News, CNN headline news blurbs that they listen to and they never bother to look at the content of the story.

Early voting in Florida

2008-10-29T09:03:00.002-04:00

My daughter and I went for early voting after work yesterday to the regional library near our house. We got there at 6:10 p.m. and the line was literally forming outside the door.

We asked a McCain supporter who was walking the line just beyond the point where no campaigning is allowed how long the actual wait was and he said a "minimum" of 2.5 hours. My daugher had no choice, it was vote then or not at all (because of work and school committments) However I did not wait, I have other opportunities to try to vote.

I drove home and my daughter called to be picked up at 9:10 p.m. It took her 3 hours.

Why so long a wait? Well, the regular precinct isn't where early voting takes place, so there are limited places to do so, and the way things are set up you can vote at an early voting place no matter what precinct you are registered in. In Miami Dade County there are a total of 20 (yes ONLY 20) locations where you can go to vote early.

Last week the hours were from 7 to 3, this week there were supposed to be from 11 to 7 but now it's 7 to 7. The person at the desk (when you get through the three check points first, presenting picture ID) types your name into a computer which verifies your eligibility and the PRINTS OUT a ballot specific for the location where you are actually registered. So, people who do not live in Miami Dade County can vote in Miami Dade County because they will get a ballot that is specific to their area - i.e. Monroe County, Broward County, Jacksonville FL, Ft. Myers, Tampa etc. That is what takes the time, the individual printing of the ballot for each voter. If a student attends a FL university and is a FL resident they can vote in the city where their university is, but they vote for the people representing the place where they are actually registered. And if you are a FL resident on business and travel across the state knowing you won't be in your hometown on election day you can vote in any FL locale that has early voting and STILL vote for your local represenatives.

Now Gov. Charlie Crist has "extended" early voting hours to 12 hours a day, so the polling places will open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. If you are in line at 7 p.m. they will still allow you to vote, but they will not allow others to que up after 7 p.m. I am going to try to vote tomorrow, or early Saturday morning. If I miss that opportunity or if my boss will allow me time off today to vote (and they don't have to allow time off for EARLY voting, only voting on the actual election day) I will have to vote at my regular polling place and probably go into work late.

At my "regular" voting place all the ballots printed will be the same, so there should be less wait time. One can only hope.

By the way it's COLD here. It was only 68 mid day yesterday (the high was at midnight at 71 degrees and then the temperature dropped during the early morning and only rose to 68) Last night it was in the 50's and this morning it is quite brisk. But people stood in line despite the chill. After all we are used to standing in lines for 2 hours at Disney World for a 3 minute ride, why can't we tolerate a 2 hour wait for a 4 year one?

_________________________________________________
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people" Eleanor Roosevelt

a thought occured to me

2008-10-15T15:50:00.002-04:00

If Sarah Palin can see Russia from her house, do you think if she cleans her windows she can see the United States?

the state of education

2008-10-14T15:35:00.004-04:00

Now I have heard of open book tests.

But this is a new one on me - an open notes test.

I asked the person taking the test if the professor thought the students were so unable to retain information that he had to resort to letting them use their notes to find the answers to the questions.

Pardon me for saying so, but in may day we called that cheating. You studied, you went in to take the test and you used your memory and reasoning ability to answer questions. You didn't rely on notes. You were actually required to "remember" what had been said in the classroom and show that you understood it enough to answer a question about it. Whatever happened to this concept?

Are current students' attention spans so limited that they can't be trusted to study and remember infomation given to them in lectures?

If so, I pity the nation.

We wont' have to wait for someone to overthrow the government, we'll give it away to anyone who has enough retentive memory to hold on to it.

I saw a stupid movie over the weekend, it was on one of the movie channels on Direct TV. It was called Idoitocracy. It's about how "dummied down" the future has become so that some low level jailbird with an average IQ is unfrozen (accidentally) from a cryochamber and ends up being the smartest person in the entire world. I thought it was a really stupid movie.

Now I am not so sure. It may be the way of the future.

Or probably only the way of the United States, because so many other places (like places currently refered to as third world countries) value education and improve on it instead of destroying it from the inside. They don't dummy down, they smarten up...

Unfortunately we will get pressure to make things easier and we do. To what purpose?

More's the pity.

the global economy

2008-10-10T13:42:00.003-04:00

With all the stock market stuff going around I wonder if anyone is worried about retailers?

So much of our consumer goods comes from other countries now.

If Americans stop spending (and they have) what kind of ripple will that have on the people who supply us with goods from afar?

Our retailers will fail.

Their suppliers will fail.

The sweat shop workers will be out of work.

Gee, isn't it nice to know that W could such a global impact?

He thought he could rule the world.

All he managed to accomplish was to ruin it.

Let's be serious

2008-10-09T13:19:00.002-04:00

I see conspiracy here,there and everywhere.

The Republicans dont't want big government, so they put a woman on the ticket who supports her state's secession from the Union? The Country of Alaska would then control the oil within their borders and the lower 48 (plus Hawaii) would be at the mercy of yet another foreign power?

The banks may be taken over by the Fed as part of the bailout? So is this the begining of a national banking system in America?

We dont' have enough money to pay our debt now, and yet we are pledging $700 billion to stop a financial meltdown? Banks are solvent? If so, why is the Fed taking over?

Forclosures, slow retail sales, unemployment and bank failures and still it's not a "depression?" The world markets are crashing because we are, and yet no one in America beleives it's a depression?

Have we so dummied down the average citizen that they can't decide anything for thmselves and take the word of Fox news analysts that we are in a bit of trouble but we are still the "greatest nation" in the world?

How absolutely stupid can the American people be?

Eight years ago I told people that "W" has ruined or bankrupted EVERY business he was ever in and everyone laughed.

Eight years later - and we are bankrupt.

So, who is laughing?

bailout

2008-09-30T08:30:00.002-04:00

I keep wondering how the rest of the world will react to the bail out?

What kills me is that I took economics as a minor. We were always told that the stock market is a gamble not a guarantee, but lately people used it as a secure investment that would ALWAYS pay out profits. No one “expected” it to fail, nor the banks, nor the insurers. And because consumers were blind and gullible and greedy they allowed unwise practices so they could get what they wanted. Lower taxes, higher profits and no oversight. And see what that brought us to?

The Republicans are running scared, and that’s harder to do when you’ve shot yourself in both feet. So I hope Obama has some kind of “new deal” plan that will be able to set things right. Of course it won’t happen overnight but it has to happen or we’re doomed for a Depression worse than the “great” one.

Don’t’ be surprised if some of us are out of a job soon, we may be forced to retire if kids can’t get $$ for student loans, and businesses can't borrow money and mortgages can't be had and retirees can't spend money on trips and motor homes and so on and so on.

More and more I am glad I buy my lotto tickets, it may be my only financial salvation and to reap the reqards I only lose $3 to $6 a week, which is better than risking my life savings. And this time I'd take the money in installments instead of in a lump sum, that way I'd be receiving money for at least 30 years - unless of course, there is a lotto bankruptcy, and that too, needs a bail out.

voting pro life

2008-08-31T15:15:00.002-04:00

I have a question for those who vote pro life, or those running on a pro life platform.

If you want me to vote for a candidate to save an unborn child from being aborted I have to know what else you do.

Do you are you candidate support legislation to aid unwed mothers? To educate them? To educate the child as it grows? Do you provide legislation and funds to provide subsidized housing for women who have children and no homes?

Do you vote for legislation to feed the child and mother? Do you vote for aid to dependent children? Do you vote to extend child care programs? Do you vote for legislation to provide medical care for the mother and child? Do you vote for or enact legislation to help hanidcaped children? Do you vote to have fathers who fail to support their children held accountable for the economic welfare of that child?

Or do you just say "abortion is bad" and then leave the reality of raising that child to the woman alone without support?

Are you going to parade about saying you dont' beleive in the murder of innocent children, and then vote to send innocent young men to fight a war?

How have you personally helped a woman to avoid abortion? Have yo paid for pre-natal or post-nalal medical expences if not, why not? Have you bought clothes for a young mother who can't afford them? Have you bought diapers or food for a young motner who did not abort her child? Would you adopt an "unwanted" child? Why not? Is it too expensive for YOU to raise a child? If so then why isnt' it too expensive for the woman who caried and delivered the child?

Are you going to tell me that you are voting according to your Christian moral principles and then deny the basics of daily life because they cost too much?

Put your money where your mouth is if you want me to vote pro life show me you ARE pro life and don't just show me lip service.

Palin is no Clinton

2008-08-30T19:19:00.002-04:00

Do the Republicans think women who wanted Hilliary are so stupid that they will vote for a woman, any woman?

I just hope women are stong enough to THINK on their own and vote what THEY want, not what their husband wants. I hope women see Palin for what she is - a spoiler.

My husband seems to think the Palin choice was good for McCain. I think it was good for Obama.

I can't wait to see Palin open her mouth and say something. I want someone to really quiz her on her experience or lack thereof.

I want to know if she has ever traveled extensively in the USA, or is she "totally Alaska locked" in her knowledge of what America wants. I want to know how she can understand the wants and needs of the rust belt voter. Does she understand the people in Maine? Florida? Mississippi? New Jersey? Tennessee? If not, what the heck makes her think she's qualified to run the country if she has no experience of it?

I want to know if she knows what a single mom with a Downs Syndrome woman needs. I want to know what she understands about alternate energy. Or is she so pro oil that that's all she knows? I want to know what she knows about international relations and economics. What about foreigh trade? What about deficiet spending? What about budgets (and I don't mean the cost of jello in the supermarket.) What about terrorism? What are her thoughts on a pull out of Iraq?

I want to know how many natural disasters she's had to handle. How will she handle the inbalance in the health care system? What are her views, but more importantly what is her experience?

I wanted Hilliary over Obama, but I want Obama over McCain. Now more than ever. God help us if McCain wins and dies. If you think W was bad, imagine someone even less qualified running our country.

insurance

2008-08-23T17:51:00.002-04:00

My sister has a new job.

They offer great benefits.

But I wonder about what our lifestyle is coming to.

They offer health insurance for employee and family members.

They also offer pet insurance.

Pet insurance.

Some people in the USA can't afford to insure their dependents, and yet part of the benefits package includes pets?

Are our animals more important than our offspring?

One wonders

New York Times says the Homeless population has decreased

2008-07-30T09:05:00.001-04:00

So how do you count the homeless?

If they live in a long term rehab shelter are they still homeless?

If they live in a cheap hotel/motel and pay rent daily or weekly are they still homeless?

Do the researchers go into the wooded areas near interstate highways and look for the shanty towns hidden from view?

Do they count the people living in cardboard boxes alongside dumpsters, and technically if they have a roof over their heads are they still homeless?

If they don't have a place of their own but live in one room with friends or relatives, without paying rent are they homeless? Around here the social service agencies call that "doubling up" and it is usually a temporary fix until the "host" family can't tolerate the "guest" any more.

Are they only homeless if they come to a shelter for overnight lodgings or do you count those who can't get into a shelter?

Or if they can't find the homeless do they just not care and remove them from the list?

a silver lining to the recession

2008-07-11T11:56:00.001-04:00

In Miami divorce rates are down 18%.

Apparently the part of the vows that actually keeps people together is the "for poorer" part because they can't afford to divorce or live in two separate households.

GMAC mortgage

2008-07-06T20:26:00.002-04:00

Long story short.

We got a settlement from Ken's worker's comp accident.

We decided to pay off the mortgage.

We called, got a pay off amount and mailed a certified cashiers (bank) check to the address provided.

It was received on May 27 and signed for by someone at GMAC.

They have not credited the account
and they now tell us that we owe late payments for June.

They lost the check - a check for over 84 thousand dollars and THEY ARE BLAMING US FOR IT!!!!!!!!!!

And upon investigation on the internet we find that GMAC mortage does this frequently. Loses checks and then tries to forclose on the poor homeowner while they tell them "not to worry".

So beware. if you have a mortgage held by GMAC this could happen to you too.

We had to engage an attorney to protect our interests.

If you are in similiar situations please be careful.

Democracy sucks

2008-06-10T11:04:00.000-04:00

I personally think Obama is a sham. I believe he will change nothing, he will “tweak” his message and end up being as status quo as anyone else because he will do what suits his purposes not institute change if it does not benefit him. At least Hillary didn’t try to convince the people that she would “change”.

I am disillusioned by the so called Democratic Process because I have found out things about the Democratic party and how it is run.

The delegates for each state are elected, not selected, did you know that? Why not? Because they never tell the normal run of the mill registered Democrat who is eligible to vote, who is running and when the “election” is. So unless you are an insider and make a point of learning about these things you have no voice. So from the get go we normal run of the mill registered party members have no clue who is organizing what efforts on behalf of whomever is running. All we eventually hear is the “X, Y or Z is running as a Democrat”.

As much as the “party” tells us we have the right to chose who is running I have found out that the choice is made long in advance FOR us behind closed doors by “represenatives” and “Delegates” and voters are manipulated into thinking the choice was theirs.

Howard Dean and the credentials and rules committee are not governed by any “election rules.” Each party makes up the rules they feel like following and they “self govern” so no one is a watchdog over the party. The Democratic Party is as exclusive as the Elks, Moose, or any other Lodge of good old boys who get to run things any way they feel like it and they do. Remember the last Democratic National Convention? Don’t tell me that Obama wasn’t being “displayed” for the public to see what they would be electing in 2008.

There are no constitutional guarantees that we have the “right to vote” except in the Presidential election, so up until that point in time all the rules are set by and enforced by the party. Who makes up the rules and makes the decisions. What they call Democracy is a lie, and we fall for it.

So Obama kept his mouth shut about the “party” decision because he wouldn’t muddy the waters and upset the system that the Democratic Party set up. He opted for the status quo because it helped his cause.

I have no respect for someone like that. He, in his “status quo” state of mind, disenfranchised many thousands of Democrats in this state, and many of us are not likely to forget it.

Unfortunately I have no choice but to vote for him or endure a Bush clone in the White House.

Notice I do not think he is man of good character and I don’t care what his enthicity, color or religion are.I think he plays us all for fools to get what he wants.

Tanking democracy back

2008-06-06T07:45:00.002-04:00

I have decided to mount a campaign to write in Hilliary Clinton.

Why?

Because she did receive the majority of the popular vote, however the configuration of the Democratic Party and the Rules committee have come to show me that it's not the people who pick a candidate anymore, it's the party. And the party created super delegates to insure that their candidate is the chosen one.

It's as if they are running with the same ideas as socialist/communists. It doesn't matter to them who runs, they already know who is winning - the "party" candidate.

Well I don't like it, and I am not going to buy into it.

So, I figure if all who actually voted for Hilliary Clinton, write in her name as President and Obama as VP then the party gets the message that they are NOT the people.

Anyone else out there willing to do the same?

none of the above

2008-06-05T07:52:00.003-04:00

I am so disenchanted with the whole primary election process that I think I have to make a choice.

Do I change from Democrat to "no party affiliation"?

Do I vote in the election but ask for a write in and choose "none of the above"?

Or

Do I vote in the election and write in Hilliary Clinton?

Arthur

2008-06-01T18:01:00.002-04:00

Well it was not a long wait for our first named storm, Arthur is a Tropical Storm, which actually formed yesterday before the season began, and actually it's being broken down while going over land in Central America. So it's already been downgraded to a depression - a short lived storm obviously.

Actually he was a sex change storm. It was a Pacific system, Alma, which hit Nicaragua on Friday, then as it crossed the Isthmus of Central America it became a depression until it hit the Gulf side and reformed and became Atlantic system storm Arthur. So SHE changed jurisdictions and names and became MALE. I think we're going to have a lot of very small storms like this one but the ones that count obviously are the only one that hits you directly.

stop complaining about what you don't have

2008-05-29T19:04:00.002-04:00

Apples, grapefruit, bananas, rasins, canned peaches, canned pineapple, mixed fruit cup, strawberries, watermelon, cantalope, cherries, applesauce, orange juice.

Peas, carrots, corn, green beans, tomatoes, celery, peppers, lettuce, onions, potatoes, radishes, cucumbers; and then there's the canned and frozen vegetables

That's what fruits and vegetablesI have in my fridge/panty or freezer now.

How many people in the world have such variety? We do because we pay to ship it from where it's grown. And people are now complaining about how high the cost of it is?

To stop paying higher prices eat LOCALLY GROWN produce. Yeah, that means eat fruits in season instead buying what you want because it's in the supermarket and for sale. But even then look at the variety of food available to most of us.

Maybe the cost of food will finally get people to learn to eat what they have instead of what they "want" when they want it.

We still have it better here than a majority of places in the world.

how to make Florida's primary count

2008-05-23T20:54:00.002-04:00

At last someone thought of a way to MAKE the DNC count Florida's primary votes. A law suit is challanging the DNC with violation of the Civil Rights Act, saying the DNC is violating the right of black voters.

If that's what it takes to get all of Florida's votes counted then I am all for it.

learning to be grandmom

2008-05-18T20:57:00.002-04:00

Saturday I made dinner.

A ham bone, 2 bullion cubes, one zuchini sliced, 1/4 quarter of a cabbage, shredded, some wilted carrots, 1/4 of an onion, some nearly wilting celery, 1/2 a bag of frozen snap peas, 1 can of diced tomatoes and lots of water. Salt and pepper to taste and guess what you get? Vegetable soup.

Now that we can't afford to go shopping I'll be making more stuff like this. And it's not just me.

I also went grocery shopping on Saturday night. And what did I see? Not men putting things in the cart on impulse, but men telling their wives "no we don't want that, it's too expensive." Men doing price comparisons. Men looking for chuck steak not T-bone, men actually CARING about how much food costs.

Amazingly I saw women saying to their children "No we have cereal at home we won't get more until you eat what we have."

Recession. Another word for common sense.